1. ALEPH. I am a man watching my own poverty by the rod of his indignation.
2. ALEPH. He has driven me and led me into darkness, and not into light.
3. ALEPH. Against me only, he has turned and turned again his hand, all day long.
4. BETH. My skin and my flesh, he has made old; he has crushed my bones.
5. BETH. He has built all around me, and he has encircled me with gall and hardship.
6. BETH. He has gathered me into darkness, like those who are forever dead.
7. GHIMEL. He has built against me all around, so that I may not depart. He has increased the burden of my confinement.
8. GHIMEL. Yet even when I cry out and beg, he excludes my prayer.
9. GHIMEL. He has enclosed my ways with square stones; he has subverted my paths.
10. DALETH. He has become to me like a bear lying in ambush, like a lion in hiding.
11. DALETH. He has subverted my paths, and he has broken me. He has placed me in desolation.
12. DALETH. He has bent his bow, and he has positioned me like a target for his arrows.